Page 182 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

Writing the Methods Slot 173

proposal. At the document level, the methods section functions as the document’s
I-slot. As Figure 10.10 reveals, the document level also contains two P-slots:

◉ At the document level, the opening P-slot provides a persuasive rationale
for why the project itself should be done. That P-slot is situation, which (as
Chapter 9 explained) is usually formed into a background section that argues
the need for the entire project.
◉ At the document level, the closing P-slot discusses the benefits that will accrue
from the project. That P-slot is benefits, which we will discuss in Chapter 12.

PIP and Proposal Strategy: Determining the Needed Level of Persuasion

Think of the various levels of PIP as a set of Russian nesting dolls (Figure 10.11). Your
document is the largest doll, whose opening P-slot can be situation and whose clos-
ing P-slot can be benefits. The next smallest is all the tasks in your methodology,
which itself can be PIP-ed. The smallest is all of your methodology’s tasks, which
themselves can be PIP-ed. When you use the PIP strategy, you are explaining to me,
at every level of the proposal, from one handcrafted doll to another, why something
must be done, how it should be done, and what I will receive from your doing it.
When I say that something can be PIP-ed, you might be asking an important
question: When should a P-slot be filled? In this last section of the chapter, we
need to discuss that strategic question.

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FIGURE 10.11 The various levels of P-slots are like Russian nesting dolls..
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